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Chocolate, marshmallows, chewing gum, cotton candy… what a sugar rush! Explore chemistry concepts with common candies and realize that there's more to candy than meets the mouth.
Sections
Activities
- Your Sense of Taste: Discover the Real Taste of Candy from Exploratorium
Did you know there are only five confirmed types of true “tastes”? being used when you pop a candy in your mouth?
- Chocolate: The New Health Food from ChemMatters
Magazine and AACT
Is chocolate healthy, junk food, or something to be savored?
- The Sweet Side of Chemistry: Candy! from ACS' Celebrating Chemistry
A magazine dedicated to exploring the chemistry of candy through several articles, activities and more.
- The Secret Science of Gum
from ACS' Adventures in Chemistry
Why is gum chewy? Where does the flavor go? Answer these questions and more. - Mentos & Diet Coke from from ACS' Adventures in Chemistry
This easy outdoor method and simple explanation helps teens share chemistry with younger students.
Demos
- Marshmallows: The Perfect Media for Demonstrating from Smithsonian Magazine
This treat is a squishy mass of science in these mini experiments about Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, and the speed of light.
- Exploring the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment from ChemEdX
Check out several variations on this experiment, and recreate your own version with your club.
- Color Changing Coke and Mentos from ChemEdX
Track a pH change during the reaction with acid–base indicator.
Labs
- Gummy Worms from Science Center
Make a worm. Eat a worm. These gummy polymers are a delicious treat!
- Make Mouthwatering Candy Melt
from Scientific American
Gummy bears and hard candies go head-to-head (or cup-to-cup) in this solubility exploration.
- A Sticky Situation: Chewing Gum and Solubility from the Journal of Chemical Educational
Chocolate and gum? Perform several solubility tests using common food items such as chocolate, chewing gum, water, sugar, and oil to learn more.
- Make a Secret Marshmallow Message from Science Friday
Turn a treat into a messenger. What will your “Maillard-ed” message say?
- Saltwater Taffy from The Accidental Scientist
This candy recipe gives you an arm workout at the same time. But, why do you need to pull taffy?
- Candy and Leaf Chromatography from AACT
Mixtures are created by the combination of two or more substances, including the mixtures that form colors. Perform chromatography to separate mixtures found in candy and in leaves.
- How Does the Rainbow Candy Experiment Work? from ChemEdX
A plate, water, and M & M’s are all you need to try this surprising experiment.
Articles
- The Sweet Science of Candy Making from ChemMatters Magazine
How do you decide what texture of candy you want? Look at the molecular level process and reveal the chemistry behind candy making.
- What's in Marshmallows?
From C&EN
Marshmallows are made of only three things, and they come together in a complex chemical dance to make your taste buds sing.
- The Sweet Life of a Candy Chemist from ChemMatters
Magazine
This Candy Chemist’s love for food science began with eggs. But now she works for the er, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.
- Sugar: “White Gold” Transforming America from ChemMatters
Magazine
When processed sugar became available, it was very expensive and out of reach for most people. But over time, as the sweetener became less expensive to produce, Americans began consuming more and more sugar.
- Gummy Candy-Like Models Can Help Students with Blindness from Smithsonian Magazine
These bite-sized pieces let students explore molecular structures—with their mouths.
- Chewing Gum—Sticking to the Story from ChemMatters Magazine
There's a big story wrapped up in ordinary gum. The Battle of the Alamo and DNA fingerprinting are both part of the tale.
- From Flavonoids to Flavor
from Science.org
This chemist turned his sights to chocolate. Read about where it led his career.
- More Choices for Natural Colors
from C&EN
Candymakers don’t need to feel blue—they now have an option for natural dye in a blue candy.
Videos
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Milk vs. Dark Chocolate: The Ultimate Showdown from ACS Reactions
The science of chocolate and pitted dark vs. milk. Who will be the victor when it comes to science? Only the chemistry thunder dome will tell...
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Why Doesn’t Banana Candy Taste like Banana Candy? from ACS Reactions
There’s a myth that one variety of banana tastes a lot like artificial banana flavoring. This video investigates if it’s as “banana-y” as the myth claims.
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Gum + Chocolate = ???? from ACS Reactions
Have you ever needed to get rid of some chewing gum quickly but spitting it out would cause a scene? Not sure you want to swallow the whole wad? Chemistry’s got your back. Find out why chocolate makes gum... DISAPPEAR!
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How Much Candy will Kill You? From ACS Reactions
Ah, sweet, sugary, science! Can your Halloween candy really kill you?
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How to Make Cotton Candy from Bytesize Science
What is cotton candy? Watch as University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Food Engineering explains how to spin piping-hot melted sugar into tasty threads, eventually cooling off and forming cotton candy.
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Choc Full of Science from Science Friday
Crystal formation is essential in making smooth chocolate that's solid at room temperature and melts in your mouth.
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Is White Chocolate Actually Chocolate? from ACS Reactions
White chocolate may lack the rich flavor of milk chocolate and the glossy brown color of dark chocolate—Many people even argue it’s not really chocolate at all. What is it about this creamy candy that sets it apart from the darker chocolates we know and love so well?
How Hard Candy is Made
- How to Make Holiday Hard Candies by WIRED
Greg Cohen, owner of Lofty Pursuits candy shop narrarates as skilled workers make old-fashioned candy canes, sugar plum drops, and image candies. Together they demonstrate how they prevent crystal formation; maintain a non-newtonian consistency; and incorporate tiny air bubbles to get the effects that we likely have seen and tasted!